Hampton selectmen hesitant about future races after fatal crash

Tuesday

Oct 29, 2013 at 7:01 AMOct 29, 2013 at 7:13 AM

HAMPTON — The Board of Selectmen is pumping the brakes on the foot and bicycle road races held in town in the aftermath of the fatal car and bicycle crash that killed two and left two seriously injured at the Granite State Wheelmen bicycle charity ride in town last month.

Nick B. Reid

HAMPTON — The Board of Selectmen is pumping the brakes on the foot and bicycle road races held in town in the aftermath of the fatal car and bicycle crash that killed two and left two seriously injured at the Granite State Wheelmen bicycle charity ride in town last month.

After the police chief and deputy police chief gave their departmental update on Monday night, the selectmen brought up the issue, saying at the worst, there can be safety hazards involved with such races on certain streets, and at the least, it's a major inconvenience.

Selectman Mary-Louise Woolsey said, for instance, the recent Smuttynose Rockfest marathon and half-marathon at the beginning of the month was supposed to tie up the street she lives on, Little River Road, for about an hour – but, in reality, the “stragglers” kept coming through for several hours after, and police had the road shut down that whole time.

Police Chief Jamie Sullivan said there were 19 such events in town last year, ranging from a relatively short 3.1-mile run organized by the town's Department of Parks and Recreation to a 26.2-mile footrace and longer bicycle rides that go through the town. Sullivan said the Smuttynose Rockfest run was run by an organized and respectable group, but even so, it presented a challenge to the town as runners weaved through and thereby shut down small back roads.

“It absolutely is an impact — and I will say a negative impact — on the community,” Sullivan said, adding that the selectmen need to balance the benefits of drawing a crowd to the town with the negatives of such a race.

A majority of selectmen indicated they would hesitate to approve or outright deny any race longer than 10 kilometers, especially if it means shutting down 10 or 20 roads in town. They also encouraged Sullivan to work with race directors to ensure the races are kept to roads that could still remain open in part to traffic as much as possible.

Darriean Hess, 19, of Seabrook, is facing charges related to the deaths of Pamela Wells, 60, of South Hamilton, Mass., and Elise Bouchard, 52, of Danvers, Mass., in the Sept. 21 accident in which she allegedly crossed the center line. Injured in the crash were Uwe Uhmeyer, 60, of Essex, Mass., and Margo Heigh, 54, of Danvers. Hess is charged with two counts of negligent homicide and two counts of second-degree assault.

Hess, an unlicensed driver, had been pulled over in the exact spot of the accident, at the Neil R. Underwood Bridge, less than eight hours earlier for going 59 mph in a 30-mph zone, police said.

Also facing charges in connection with the accident is Cindy Sheppard, 48, of 51 Ocean Blvd., Hampton. She allegedly squeezed an amount of the painkiller fentanyl onto Hess' finger in an effort to calm her down after she had been pulled over by Hampton police for speeding and hours before the fatal crash. Sheppard is facing a felony charge of sale of a controlled drug and a violation-level offense of allowing an improper person to operate.

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